Category: Writing

Sometimes you want to journal, but you don’t know what to write about. I always find it difficult to find journal prompts I actually care enough about to spend time on them, but it’s really helpful to have a collection of them in case you hit a journaling wall!

Here are 31 journal prompts that I hope will stimulate your writing and help you to get out of the journal rut.

Your favorite book and why you love it

Your most outrageous goal

The weirdest dream you’ve ever had

Your earliest memory

Your favorite sound and why you love it

Your first day of school

Something fun you used to do with your childhood friends

A movie you haven’t seen that everyone else has seen

Your favorite season and why you love it

Where you see yourself in 5 years

Where you thought you would be now vs. where you are

The most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen, and why it’s the most beautiful

I made a post last week about cultivating inspiration so that you can decrease the number of times when you’re feeling burn out and hopefully boost your creativity! In that post I briefly mentioned journaling and why it’s a really awesome thing to incorporate into your daily life as a writer/artist/business person/student/whatever else you do.

But I know that if you don’t journal a lot (or if, like me, you’re a little inconsistent with it) you might feel like you don’t know where to start and might need some inspiration. So here are 5 tips for getting started!

Find a journal you really like. Personally I gravitate towards Moleskines, leatherbound journals (like this one), and Paperblanks journals. The paper quality is really lovely and it makes writing in them an actual treat. If you don’t love the journal you’re writing in, you probably won’t use it very often.

Find a pen you love! I like Pentel’s black liquid gel ink pens, or their ballpoint pens, but that’s just me. They glide like heaven across the creamy pages of a good journal ❤ Stabilo and Staedtler also make lovely pens that are super affordable.

Let go of the pressure. Writing in your journal is for you. It doesn’t matter how neat or messy your handwriting is, what you write about, or how eloquent you are. It’s just your journal. Write what you want, how you want, and don’t evaluate yourself as you’re doing it.

Set the stage. Make journaling a nice experience. I light a candle and have tea or hot water with lemon while I do it, and I sit in bed because it’s comfortable. Sometimes I listen to music. I don’t set a timer or anything—I just enjoy the moment and let myself totally relax into the words and into the motion of the pen sliding across the paper.

If you can, do it first thing in the morning or before bed in the evening. The middle of the day is often too hectic and busy, and you might find yourself pushing it aside in lieu of “more important” things. But early in the morning or late at night you can sit, relax, and get lost in the wordage.

We all know that inspiration can sometimes be an elusive creature. People give you advice and say things like “Suck it up, you don’t need inspiration to write, just write, you’re a pansy” etc. Well, pardon me, Oh Wise Givers of Writing Advice, but I happen to enjoy writing (or anything creative) when I’m feeling inspired. But obviously inspiration isn’t always just there, readily available for you to tap into whenever you choose.

However, I’ve found that there are several things…habits, if you will…that make it much easier for me to stay in an inspiration cloud so that I can draw on it whenever I need it. I’m not saying all of these will work for everyone, but I am saying that you can actually do things to cultivate inspiration in your life rather than always just waiting for it to hit you.

I read every day! It doesn’t matter what you read – just read. I tend to genre hop because I think it’s important for writers to read widely, and I also stick some non-fiction in there. Even if you can just squeeze in five or ten minutes of reading here and there, you’ll find that it will massively help your creative brain. If you need some suggestions, I highly recommend Kindle Unlimited for finding unlimited (ha, see what I did there) books by well-known as well as indie authors!

I get outside at some point during the day. Fresh air does wonders for you, and it’s even better if you take a short walk. It’s just basic science, really! Light exercise increases blood flow, and that includes blood flow to your brain.

I try new things. Part of the reason why we feel like we lack inspiration and creativity is because we get stuck in the same old pattern, the same old routine, and going to the same old places. So try a new coffee place! Take a different route to work/school! Find new music to listen to! There are countless little things you can do to change it up and kick your brain into a different gear.

Find other writer-people. We’re all over the place – blogs like this one, Twitter, Instagram, Facebook…there are so many places to find fellow writers who go through the same struggles and challenges. Find your tribe, encourage each other, and draw on others for inspiration when you have none left yourself. (I find the hashtags #writerslife and #amwriting are a good start on Twitter and Instagram.)

So I have obviously been self publishing my books, which I felt very good about and which was the right decision at the time. But something has been nagging me, and I can’t ignore it anymore. My dream – the Book Dream – was never to have my books on Kindle. Don’t get me wrong, I love Amazon and I love that they are so good to indie authors. I love having control over my work and owning all the rights.

But ultimately, what I really want most is to have my books on bookshelves in bookstores. I don’t care about making money, I don’t care about winning awards. I just want my characters to be known and loved by people other than myself…to know that they won’t die with me and that their stories and struggles and victories will survive. And not only survive, but thrive, and even inspire those who discover them to follow their own dreams and find the thing that makes them feel free.

That’s what I want. And so, although I thought the journey was nearly ending, I’m packing my writing/editing rucksack and getting back on the road to Shard. I know it will take work, I know that traditional publishing can be a whole other monster, but that’s what I want, so that’s where I’m going. And I’ll toss some pennies into wishing wells along the way.